I landed at 6:30am on a Tuesday.
In between a phone plan, a wifi box for my apartment, a Navigo card, a duvet, cleaning products, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, all the things you don’t think about until you’re standing in a new city realising you need everything and you need it today. I didn’t get back until 9pm. Still had to wash my hair, still had to put the duvet cover on, and still had to figure out where everything was going to go. Unpacking was a problem for another day.
That was my first day in Paris.
I'm so lucky to have a close family friend who has lived here for years, she was with me the entire day helping me navigate all of it. I genuinely don't know what I would have done without her.
The next day though, Perruche for my friend's birthday. If you haven’t been, the view is absolutely stunning. All of Paris spread out below you. I’m still adjusting to having late dinners! And with the light the way it is right now, by the time the appetisers are just coming out you genuinely think it’s 7pm. It’s already 9.
The first week was just settling in. Getting used to my neighbourhood, the metro, what shops are the closest to me. I have to be honest, those first few days it took a lot of courage just to step outside alone. Even when my friends were busy, I wished I had someone to drag along with me.
The thing is, I've moved somewhere alone before. I moved to Sydney by myself a few years ago. I'm comfortable exploring alone, shopping alone, being alone. But Paris being so far, so completely foreign, it's a different kind of intimidation. Sydney wasn't far. This is across the world. And there's something about being in a city where you don't know the language fluently, don't know the unspoken rules, don't quite know how anything works yet, it makes you feel smaller than you're used to feeling. It took time to shake. And I'm still shaking it.
